Don’t Menshn Fabric

[Update at end of post]

London nightclub Fabric has had its licence revoked and is to close, this time for good. The decision has proved controversial: London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his concern, but it was not his call. As the BBC reported, “The decision to shut down Fabric was made by Islington Council in north London, which described a ‘culture of drugs’ at the venue ... The club was closed temporarily earlier this year after the deaths of two teenagers”.

(c) Doc Hackenbush 2014

There was more: “The Metropolitan Police claimed keeping Fabric open would cause further drug-related deaths”. But there was a note of unhappiness: “Fabric co-founder Cameron Leslie said he was ‘gutted’ at the decision … It has been criticised by several DJs and artists who have performed at the venue in the past”. An online petition has gained more than 150,000 signatures.

Activist Clive Martin was at the Islington Council hearing, and was also not happy, Tweeting “Fabric hearing is bizarre. Councillors for inner city areas like Farringdon acting like they represent a village parish” and then adding “Sounds basic, but it's essentially agism. The people making the calls are from a totally different demographic to those it affects”. This provoked an entrance from (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch.

Wait, what? What does clubbing in London have to do with her? Look, it’s written, that’s why: “Freedom and sovereignty affect the old as much as the young”. Eh? What was she rabbiting on about? Richard John was equally taken aback: “what does sovereignty have to do with a nightclub Louise?” You’ll love the reply.

Back came Ms Mensch to once again pass adverse comment on Clive Martin: “Did you even vote? #Brexit” She had confused the closure of a London nightclub with the result of the the EU referendum. Well, anyone can make a mistake, eh? A clearly exasperated Steve Gibson tried to put her straight: “I swear this was meant to be about fabric not your Brexit bullshit”. Would she listen? Would she heck.

Having now read Clive Martin’s Twitter bio - not challenging, as it’s not exactly wordy - she tried “‘Activists’ are usually just the opposite #Brexit”, showing the approved line of her Murdoch-bankrolled website Heat Street. She’ll be calling him an SJW next. Louis tried once more to tell her what she refused to hear: “he's tweeting about the fabric review. Not brexit. Just continues to prove how out of touch you all are”.

No, she wasn’t listening, instead having another oh-so-clever-because-I-went-to-Oxford-and-the-rest-of-you-didn’t dig at Martin: “Yes you are being agist, Clive”. But it still wasn’t about Brexit, and she was making herself look even more stupid than usual, to prove it can be done. After that, the last word had to go to Clive Martin, who surveyed the wreckage of Ms Mensch’s credibility and concluded “God, Louise fucking Mensch. Honestly”.

Confusing the controversy over Fabric with the referendum result and then refusing to listen. That’s Louise Mensch. And remember, they allowed her to become an MP.

[UPDATE 1720 hours: far from showing any regret at her stupidity, Louise Mensch has doubled down on it by claiming she was right, while showing precisely the opposite.

After Richard John posed his question as to why she had compared Fabric's closure to Brexit, she trilled ".@RichardJohn ask Clive the ageist, @thugclive - he thinks it's #Brexit related", but the Twitter sequence she quoted showed Clive Martin was not the one mentioning Brexit, the person who did, Andrew Turmer, said "Brexit esque", which is not the same thing, and Martin had not picked up on that when replying.

To Nilam Atodaria, who had pointed out her howler earlier, she simply said ".@NilamAtodaria complain to @thugclive #fail", making the same mistake.

Then it was time to dump on the HuffPo: "#fabricreview was compared to #Brexit by @thugclive - that's why HuffPo fails". It wasn't, and her "evidence" shows it.

And on she blundered, insisting "Gotta love UK liberal whiners. @thugclive compares #brexit #fabricreview, they cry when I call him on it". He didn't, so she fouled up. All she's doing now is drawing attention to how terminally inept she is.

Just think, Rupert Murdoch is bankrolling her website and stumping up for 18 full-time staff. What must he think of his protégé's idiocy can only be imagined]